Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, charged with the murder of 16 Afghan villagers in one of the worst atrocities of the American-led war in that country, will plead guilty as part of a deal to avoid the death penalty, his attorney told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

"A New State Of Mind: Ending The Stigma Of Mental Illness" tells the stories of hope, resilience and recovery for real Californians who battled stigma and discrimination associated with their diagnosis of mental illness. This documentary is narrated by award-winning actress Glenn Close.

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - With City Council members backing five-year agreements with the city of San Diego's employee unions, council President Todd Gloria today tentatively scheduled a June 10 vote on the pact.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's announcement Wednesday that she won't seek a fifth term unleashed a torrent of tweets and blog posts on the left lampooning the short-lived 2012 presidential candidate.

The 10 biggest breaks, deductions and credits in the U.S. income tax code are costing the Treasury $900 billion this year, with more than half of that total benefiting the wealthiest 20 percent of taxpayers.

Sixteen millionmen and women served in uniform during World War II. Today, 1.2 million are still alive, but hundreds of those vets are dying every day. In honor of Memorial Day, NPR'sAll Things Considered is remembering some of the veterans who died this year.

What goes around comes around; that’s what recycling is all about. Recycling is a natural part of the growing process, whether its composting waste at home to big municipal recyclers, reusing and reclaiming water to irrigate plants, or finding novel new for organic waste products, host Nan Sterman show us how San Diego recycles green waster and gray water, to put them back to work growing more.

A bill that would overhaul the nation's immigration laws is headed to the Senate floor early next month, where it will need all the friends it can get to pass. The measure would give the estimated 11 million immigrants in the United States illegally a path to citizenship, as well as tighten border protections.

Prescription painkillers are among the most widely used drugs in America. In the decade since New York Times reporter Barry Meier began investigating their use and abuse, he says he has seen the number of people dying from overdoses quadruple -- an increase Meier calls "staggering."

Earlier this month, we told you about a U.N. report that makes the case for insects to improve global food security: They're cheap, plentiful and environmentally sustainable. Now, the coming of the 17-year cicadas provides East Coast Americans, for whom bug eating is considered novel at best, with an opportunity to try local insect cuisine.

This one probably doesn't come as much of a shocker: The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces recently ruled it's illegal for anyone in the U.S. military to make a sex tape, even if no one ever sees it.

A new late night film series kicks off this Friday at the Digital Gym’s micro cinema. It’s being presented by a group of programmers and myself and we call ourselves the Film Geeks. The first film is “American Mary” (screening May 31 and June 1 at 10pm) and represents tour dedication to genre films that push the envelope.

Having a home in the path of a wildfire doesn't necessarily mean that your home will burn. Fire scientists say increasing ignition resistance of houses based on non-flammable roofs and cleaning up around your home can make a huge difference.

A command investigation into the deadly training explosion at the Hawthorne Army Depot that killed seven Marines has found human error was to blame. In addition to the seven Marines who lost their lives, eight other service members of 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, were injured in the March 18 accident.

After receiving complaints that a billboard advertisement included an image resembling Adolf Hitler, JC Penney has reportedly taken the sign down. The move came after images of the billboard in California's Culver City spurred a controversy on Reddit and elsewhere online. The retailer says any resemblance to the late leader of the Third Reich was unintended.

A team of U.S. airmen became the first group of active-duty American service members to summit Mount Everest. Sadly, illness forced Capt. Colin Merrin of Santee to turn back before he could summit with his team.

The idea that uneven Medicare health care spending around the country is caused by wasteful practices and overtreatment -- a concept that has influenced portions of the federal health law -- took another hit in a study published Tuesday.

The makers of Smithfield Ham, an icon on America's culinary scene for decades, are selling the publicly traded company to China's Shuanghui International Holdings Limited for about $4.72 billion in cash. The deal also includes an exchange of debt.

We need to update the news that a dozen Cleveland area restaurants said they would give Charles Ramsey "free burgers for life" because of the way he helped rescue three young women and a little girl from the home where police say they had been held captive and brutalized for years.

"A record 40 percent of all households with children under the age of 18 include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income for the family," the Pew Research Center reported Wednesday as it released data that certainly won't surprise many Americans but will underscore some dramatic shifts over recent decades.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, a hero to many conservatives and tea party advocates who saw her fortunes rise and fall quickly in the 2012 race for the GOP presidential nomination, announced early Wednesday that she will not seek re-election to a fifth term in Congress.

BANNER GRADE (CNS) - Crews working to extinguish a wildfire that has blackened nearly 1,200 open acres in remote, rugged terrain southeast of Julian over the last four days had the burn area 90 percent contained today, authorities reported.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) -- California firefighters took advantage of cooler weather Wednesday morning as they worked to surround a wildfire that blackened nearly 3 square miles of forest in the mountains above Santa Barbara.